Dear Parents and carers,

I hope you have all had a restful summer break and are now as enthusiastic about our return to school as we are here at Botley. I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all over the first few weeks of term and becoming part of this vibrant community.

Before we return I wanted to share with you the latest details for the start of term in order to comply with regulations around Covid 19. We hope that these will be useful and will help to allay any concerns you may have regarding the children’s return to school on Thursday 3rd September.

Children will be coming into school from 8.30am. As mentioned previously, we would like to restrict the number of adults entering the school grounds and so have decided that KS2 children will leave their parents at the gate and will make their way to their classrooms with the help of school adults who will be there to guide them. Once through the school gates the children are safe and will enjoy the challenge of finding their way to their new classrooms. We will be strongly encouraging KS2 pupils to adhere to the Government’s stipulated distancing rule of 2metres for schools. In order to assist the children, ALL adults in school, including any KS1 parents in the playground etc. MUST stick to this rule as a positive model for our pupils. We have identified specific door entry points for each class which are in the table below.

Classes Door

Year 6 - Cedar and Lilac Forest School door

Year 5 Sycamore Through the first hall door

Year 5 Hawthorn Through the second hall door

Year 3/4 Cypress Boys’ toilet door

Year 3/4 Maple White door near to the staffroom

Year 3/4 Silver Birch and Chestnut Old school entrance doors

Year 2 Rowan Year 2 playground door accessed through the KS1 playground

Year 2 Cherry Through the classroom back door

Year 1 Apple and Poplar Through classroom doors via the KS1 playground

Ladybirds Through Nursery gate and into class via the garden

Butterflies Through Nursery gate and into class via the garden

Equipment

To avoid congestion in corridors, the cloakrooms will not be used. Therefore, what your child brings into school should be minimal. We have asked that children do not bring book

bags but as requested they bring their own small pencil case, lunchbox where appropriate, and that they wear their PE kit to school on the day their teacher tells them they have PE. Hopefully, this will ease our issues with contamination etc.

Routines

We have put several control measures in place for school. These include:

· Where they keep their belongings in the classroom

· What time they will have break

· Where their allocated playground zone is

· Where their allocated toilets are.

The teachers will communicate all this information to the children on their first day and indeed will continue to do so until the new Covid19 measures become second nature. We recognise that it might appear that school is back to normal, but we do have to put stringent safeguarding controls in place. Our staff are dedicated to making Botley School as positive an experience and as close to normal as possible.

If you need to leave a message or contact an individual in school then please email us via the office email – office.2569@botley.oxon.sch.uk

Procedures will be reviewed on a daily basis and we will keep you updated of any changes, especially in the light of the Oxfordshire County Council information on the local response. Thank you in advance for helping the school keep our children and community safe as possible during the ongoing pandemic, by sticking to the control measures we have put in place.

Best wishes,

Jo Reid